A HUSH AS HARRISON IS ASKED: ‘WONDERFUL WOMAN OR SILLY GIRL?’

THERE was a hush in courtroom 12 as Rory Harrison was asked if the alleged victim was ‘a wonderful young woman’ or ‘a silly little girl’. Dressed in a black suit, white shirt and tie, Mr Harrison returned to the witness box to be crossexamined after already taking his position in the wood-panelled area on Saturday.

Sitting with his head tilted to the side, he appeared to be listening carefully as prosecutor Toby Hedworth referred to a text Mr Harrison had sent the alleged victim at the centre of the high-profile rape trial.

The court had previously heard that Mr Harrison had sent a message saying: ‘Keep your chin up, you wonderful young woman’ after dropping her home in a taxi on the night in question. The woman had been upset, the court heard.

Mr Hedworth faced Mr Harrison and asked him: ‘Is she a wonderful young woman?’

Mr Harrison took his gaze from the barrister and faced the jury lined up opposite him, replying: ‘She was upset, so I complimented her to try to make her feel better.’

It was then put to him: ‘So it was just weasel words?’ As he turned to the jury of eight men and three women again, he said: ‘I just wanted to make her feel better.’

Leaning his left hand on his knee, he tilted his head as question after question was put to him with many of them answered with a simple ‘that is correct’ or ‘that is not correct’.

Mr Hedworth, looking up from his notes, asked Mr Harrison about the text he sent to the alleged victim calling her a ‘wonderful young woman’.

A mumble spread through the packed public gallery, as Mr Hedworth again read out the message: ‘My pleasure (woman’s name)’ – before the lawyer then asked: ‘Not “my pleasure you silly little girl”?’ Mr Harrison, looking directly at the counsel, and appeared to lean slightly towards the microphone before replying, ‘No’.

The trial had earlier heard that Mr Harrison had described the complainant as a ‘silly little girl who has done something she has regretted’, in WhatsApp messages to Blane McIlroy, who is accused of exposure.

Mr Hedworth questioned Mr Harrison about the text he sent the day after the alleged rape, saying he ‘walked upstairs and there was more flutes that the Twelfth of July’. Mr Harrison faced the jurors, replying that it was a joke.

When he was further questioned about what he claimed to be a joke, Mr Harrison, still leaning on his left knee, said: ‘I was not very concerned about the semantics of a joke.’

Mr Hedworth retorted immediately: ‘I think you are very concerned with semantics, Rory Harrison’, after which whispers could be heard in the public gallery.

Counsel suggested it ‘wasn’t a joke, it was an accurate description’ of the three other accused.

The barrister suggested to Mr Harrison that if he had looked into the bedroom on the night of the alleged rape and saw Paddy Jackon’s penis, Blane McIlroy’s penis, and that Stuart Olding had run off to the bathroom to wipe himself, then there would have been more flutes than the Twelfth of July.

Mr Harrison replied: ‘There would be in that case, yes.’

Later he was asked again if the accuser is a wonderful young woman, to which Mr Harrison replied: ‘I don’t know.’

‘Or a silly little girl?’ prosecution asked again. After what appeared to be a slight delay, Mr Harrison replied: ‘I think she’s someone who regretted what she’s done.’

Mr Harrison earlier said he did not see Blane McIlroy in the bedroom, but that it was possible he was in there somewhere. Mr Hedworth asked if he could have been hiding behind the door.

A stifled snigger spread in the public gallery as he asked: ‘He could have been in the wardrobe?’ – to which Mr Harrison replied: ‘Possibly.’

Earlier, Mr Harrison agreed he had asked the police to no longer call at his parents’ house as they were not fully aware of what the case involved.

Mr Harrison agreed he had given a full account to his father – but said he hadn’t told his mother.

Delivering this response, he appeared to keep his gaze on the counsel, but not towards the thick-glass-panelled public gallery where his family sat with friends.

After two hours, Mr Harrison – the last of the four defendants to give evidence – kept his gaze forward as he left the witness box.